Description

A simple printable (mostly) Tesla turbine I made for the make contest to win a makerbot. I'm sorry about the bad previews, they're exports from SolidWorks.

A few notes:
Besides the Printer you need a tap set and a drill.
The disks and the spacers should be 5 layers thick.
The alternate Box1-pilot hole part replaces the 1/2in inlet and outlet holes with a .1in pilot hole. (now that I think about it, this should help with sag yes?)

I have no idea how well it will work, if i understand 3d printing correctly, the disks may warp badly which would ruin the turbine. The plastic probably wont hold up to very high rpm ether.

Recent Comments

I thought about HDD platters, but there are a few problems. I found it hard to find to a sufficient number of them, the drain holes need to be machined, and I wanted to make as much of the turbine as possible printed. If it's possible to make them, then I think they should withstand a few hundred rpm before they catastrophically fail, but before then they will stretch. Cd's (the closest thing I can find in use as disks) have withstood sustained 4-5000 rpm, but I think printed disks would have much lower strength.

A Tesla turbine doesn't use friction, it uses a boundary layer effect, I don't know what that means but I know it's not friction. So there is another problem with a printed disk, the disk needs to be smooth, not rough, so the disk would have to be made to large, then sanded down to size, so maybe
HDD platters are a better plan. I'm working on v2 already, ball bearings, drain holes that could be drilled without a turntable (making HDD conversion easier) and more math to make the turbine more efficient.

I thought about HDD platters, but there are a few problems. I found it hard to find to a sufficient number of them, the drain holes need to be machined, and I wanted to make as much of the turbine as possible printed. If it's possible to make them, then I think they should withstand a few hundred rpm before they catastrophically fail, but before then they will stretch. Cd's (the closest thing I can find in use as disks) have withstood sustained 4-5000 rpm, but I think printed disks would have much lower strength.

A Tesla turbine doesn't use friction, it uses a boundary layer effect, I don't know what that means but I know it's not friction. So there is another problem with a printed disk, the disk needs to be smooth, not rough, so the disk would have to be made to large, then sanded down to size, so maybe
HDD platters are a better plan. I'm working on v2 already, ball bearings, drain holes that could be drilled without a turntable (making HDD conversion easier) and more math to make the turbine more efficient.